Their products will also be at Peking 2008. It all started from a brave idea: industrialise a patented molecular of the Faculty of Pharmacy of Pavia University in Italy, in order to develop new products to assist sportsmen/sportswomen. The Italian company Byoteam (www.byoteam.it), was founded in 2004 as part of the Eley Rolland Group (that boasts 70 years experience in cosmetics, is now present in 72 world markets, and last year had a turnover of 13 million Euros), it has been able to impose its own «cosmeceutici» product lines in Italy and abroad in a short space of time, a neologism that shows the original characteristics of Byoteam solutions.

Let’s ask the Byoteam Managing Director Angela Laganà to explain what «cosmeceutici» products are in detail

The term describes all those products that have curative properties and use natural active ingredients in cosmetic formulas. The certification issued by Pavia University verges on two different formulas developed by our laboratories: Dfc (Defense Factor Complex), whose antioxidant effectiveness has been proved by tests, and R2, whose galenic formula ensures quick recovery of the inflammatory state of the musculoskeletal apparatus. These are two innovative ideas which we have patented that are the result of our passion and experience. Our all new formulas, that were specifically designed for this sector, are totally original.

Does the ever increasing attention paid to physical fitness, for health and other reasons, favours the development of your specific market?

Our last research showed that the fitness and wellness markets are expanding strongly and that they are increasingly headed towards reciprocal integration. What we propose is first of all a cultural operation to transfer the experience we have gained in professional competitive events into the wellness market. We propose an innovative range that combines research into maximum performance levels that are typical of the sports sector with the attention to quality that we have acquired in over 70 years experience in the cosmetics sector. These basic requirements, which are indispensable for competing in international markets, have resulted in the development of products of proven effectiveness that can be positioned in the high band of the market and that communicate consistently thanks to an image that has been carefully studied for this type of sector.

Byoteam was founded only four years and yet most of its turnover comes from exports that are 70 percent of the revenue. You are in 60 markets, in particular those in the Arab states, the United States and Canada, Taiwan, South America, and South-East Asia: how did you manage to reach out of Italy in such a short space of time, launching and selling your products abroad as well?

We certainly had the benefit of a corporate culture strongly focused on knowledge management to develop new knowledge and exploit existing knowledge to the utmost in our favour. This continually makes us ‘look beyond’, to exploit opportunities in the most favourable contexts. In this sense we cannot do without our ties to a territory and its culture. Our offices in Taiwan, New York and Manchester and the fairs we habitually participate in are highly important. The fairs are the following: Taipei-Taiwan, Doha-Qatar, Ihrsa-San Diego, Fibo-Essen (Germany) and Cosmoprof Worldwide-Bologna.

What distribution business model have you adopted? Are the channels for reaching customers conventional ones (gymnasiums, specialised sales outlets, chemist shops, corners with ad hoc products in large sports articles department stores) or do you use sole agents, licensed outlets or wholesalers?

In Italy we use our subsidiary, which is a leading company in the sale of integrators, and is in the sports market which at the moment is mainly composed of professional sports teams, chemist shops and gymnasiums. Abroad we rely on local distributors.

Byoteam is not only about «cosmeceutica»: is the enlargement of the range to solutions for looking after the body and the products of the Leisure line aimed at broadening the target customer base to consumers who are not necessarily sportsmen/sportswomen? Currently, how important is the revenue from the Beautycare and Leisure lines compared to your Physiocare division? Is the revenue mix destined to change, according to your plans, in the next few years?

There is a 70/30 ratio between the technical Physiocare line and the wellbeing line (Beautycare and Leisure). We are developing products that will significantly broaden our presence in the Wellness&Spa sector with a new product line that is already in the preparation stage: the current balance will therefore change very soon.